He must stay in charge

An unholy alliance of Senate Republicans who like to see Mayor de Blasio twist in the wind and Assembly Democrats doing the anti-charter-school bidding of the teachers’ union have just put New York City’s public education system on the edge of a cesspit of corruption and dysfunction.

With 1.1 million kids soon to feel the pain, parents must let legislative leaders know there will be electoral consequences for this juvenile game of chicken.

Majority Leader John Flanagan — whose Senate Republicans gladly backed long renewals of mayoral control for generous political donor Mayor Bloomberg, claiming then that it was about the precious principle of accountability — refused to extend it on de Blasio’s watch.

Shame him for his craven reversal, a finger in the eye of a city that wants only to guide its own fate. Call Flanagan’s office: 518-455-2071. Email him at flanagan@nysenate.gov.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Bronx Democrat who claims to believe deeply in mayoral control, wouldn’t budge on having the authority linked to a small increase in the cap on the number of charter schools, a threat to no one but the teachers’ unions.

Shame him for putting narrow interests before the good of kids. Call Heastie’s office: 518-455-3791. Email him at speaker@nyassembly.gov.

Come June 30 mayoral control expires and the monstrous old Board of Education will return. An unelected, unaccountable, unresponsive Board of Education will rise from the grave.

Then, next year, 32 community school boards, mini-fiefdoms that proved to be swamps of patronage and thievery, will return.

Into those citywide and neighborhood vacuums of power will rush the teachers’ union, the single most potent institutional force. Though claiming always to put children’s best interests first, it represents inertia. It protects benefits and advances its members interests above all else.

And a decade of steady progress in schools that still need to make far more will be in jeopardy.

By any honest measure, New York City’s public education system has made remarkable strides since being made truly responsive to the people it serves.

Families have more options of where to send their children.

Graduation rates are steadily rising.

Scores on state tests are steadily improving — SAT scores, too — and the gap with the rest of New York’s schools is all but closed.

Schools are far safer than before.

Four-year-olds across the city have access to free pre-kindergarten.

Love or loathe the exact direction Bloomberg or de Blasio have taken the schools, there’s consistent pressure on the city’s top elected official to deliver real results in kids’ lives.

So pressure must now rain down on Flanagan and Heastie to fix what they’ve chosen to break.

In the meantime, the city’s five borough presidents, who under the bad old system were each responsible for appointing one member to the central board — the mayor had two appointees — have a responsibility.

Gale Brewer of Manhattan, Eric Adams of Brooklyn, Melinda Katz of Queens, Ruben Diaz of the Bronx and Jimmy Oddo of Staten Island are all on record supporting mayoral control of the schools.

In a joint letter this month, they just put it plainly: “We remember the bad old days. There was confusion, chaos, dysfunction and a total lack accountability.”

Now, without delay, all five must sign over their appointees to the mayor. If the Board really returns, they must ensure it reports to the elected official who ought to be in charge.